20 Gallon Tank Furniture holding tank started failing

Hey everyone,

My fiancé and I recently started our 20 gallon planted tank a few weeks ago and the piece of furniture we were using has started to bow pretty significantly in the middle. I’m glad we noticed this now before we started adding fish. We ordered the aquarium stand that was made for our tank but it won’t get here for 3-5 days.

Now, I’m not very crafty, so I grabbed the closest aquarium stand I could find that would fit our tanks dimensions with no overhang. Unfortunately, it was a 40 gallon stand that doesn’t quite fit either, so I applied a bandaid of 2x4s to provide a flat, level base for the tank.

Will this hold for the next 3-5 days or would we be better off putting it on the floor? I’m afraid of putting it on any other furniture in the house at this point.

 

Hey everyone,

My fiancé and I recently started our 20 gallon planted tank a few weeks ago and the piece of furniture we were using has started to bow pretty significantly in the middle. I’m glad we noticed this now before we started adding fish. We ordered the aquarium stand that was made for our tank but it won’t get here for 3-5 days.

Now, I’m not very crafty, so I grabbed the closest aquarium stand I could find that would fit our tanks dimensions with no overhang. Unfortunately, it was a 40 gallon stand that doesn’t quite fit either, so I applied a bandaid of 2x4s to provide a flat, level base for the tank.

Will this hold for the next 3-5 days or would we be better off putting it on the floor? I’m afraid of putting it on any other furniture in the house at this point.

Hello and welcome to Fishlore!
You'll definitely be fine for the next 3-5 days, though I don't know about keeping it there long-term.

 

That looks plenty good.

 

Hello and welcome to Fishlore!
You'll definitely be fine for the next 3-5 days, though I don't know about keeping it there long-term.

Thanks, that’s a huge relief! Definitely don’t want this to be our permanent solution.

 

I agree it will be fine for a few days, but I've got to tell you that one 2 x 4 sticking out 2" past the others would drive me nuts.

 

For a temporary fix, that should be perfect

 

Is your new stand an Imagitarium like this one? If yes its a great stand and the best thing I like is the easy use leveling feet. The feet make it real easy to level. Fast too!
BTW, the way it is now other than apprearance will hold up forever. No worries here.

 

Did it wobble any when you transferred it onto the boards? If so, then you should only have 1/2 of the water in the tank until the real stand arrives.

If it is solid, then you're fine and could indeed leave it alone forever. (Obviously you don't want to If you can avoid it, but in theory you could)

 

Something to bear in mind for all aquariums that are within 2 years old, if it breaks or is damaged in any way and is not on the manufacturers own stand made specifically for it, the warranty is immediately null an void. Which if a large and expensive aquarium would leave a big hole in the finances to replace.

 

Something to bear in mind for all aquariums that are within 2 years old, if it breaks or is damaged in any way and is not on the manufacturers own stand made specifically for it, the warranty is immediately null an void. Which if a large and expensive aquarium would leave a big hole in the finances to replace.

I always use the stand designed for the tank. They are not expensive and some look real good too!
I have an Imagitarium 40 gallon breeder and matching stand and it is solid, has leveling feet (so important) and looks great.
I could build and I have seen some good builds and I like those as well.
But using furniture is not my idea of a good idea.

 

If this is a wood table and structured as I can see from the picture, the weight needs to be on the legs. Otherwise, the entire weight will be carried by the connection between the tabletop and the leg, which is probably some screws and glue. You would be better off with horizontallly stacked 2x4 beams that will extend on the side of the table top (or two long ones from one corner to the other and then a stack of short ones).

For a temporary fix (until you get a stand) you can just put the tank on the floor to be safe.